September 9, 2019 — Today is the feast day of Saint Peter
Claver, a Jesuit missionary known as the patron saint of slaves, African
missions and interracial justice. St. Claver spent his life serving African
slaves who were brought to Colombia during the 17th century.

Born on June 26, 1580, in Catalonia, Spain, St. Claver studied
at the University of Barcelona and joined the Jesuits at age 20 in 1602. While
studying philosophy at Majorca in 1605, St. Claver developed a friendship with
Jesuit Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez. Br. Rodriguez, who spent his days doing
menial work as a doorkeeper, encouraged St. Claver to become a missionary in
the Spanish colonies in America.

In 1610, St. Claver voyaged from Spain to Cartagena,
Colombia, where, after five years of further study, he was ordained a priest.
Despite Pope Paul III's repeated condemnations of slavery during the previous
century, European colonists continued importing African slaves to work on
plantations and in mines. St. Claver threw himself into his ministry, bringing
aid to the African slaves despite his own health problems and the language
barrier between himself and the population he served.

With the help of multi-lingual catechists, St. Claver boarded
every slave ship that entered the harbor. He was able to work among the slaves,
offering immediate relief with medicines, biscuits, brandy, tobacco and lemons.
“We must speak to them with our hands,” he said, “before we try to speak to
them with our lips.” Whenever he came upon a baby born during the voyage or a
dying slave, St. Claver would stop to baptize them immediately.

Throughout his work, St. Claver survived on minimal amounts
of food and sleep. His life of humility and penance led to miraculous
occurrences — as when he healed the sick with the touch of his cloak or
appeared surrounded by a supernatural light during his hospital visits.

In the last years of his life, St. Claver became sick with
the plague and was too ill to leave his room. When he was anointed with the oil
of the Sacrament of the Sick in 1654, Cartagenians crowded into his room to see
him for the last time, treating it as a shrine.

He died on September 8, 1654, after having baptized and
taught the faith to more than 300,000 slaves during his four decades in
Cartagena.

He was beatified by Pius IX on July 16, 1850, and canonized
along with his friend St. Alphonsus Rodriguez on January 15, 1888, by Pope Leo
XIII.

In the video below, Jesuit Father James Kubicki talks about the life of St. Peter Claver:

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